Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Oct 7:7:643.
doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00643. eCollection 2013.

Ten year neurocognitive trajectories in first-episode psychosis

Helene E Barder  1 , Kjetil Sundet, Bjørn R Rund, Julie Evensen, Ulrik Haahr, Wenche Ten Velden Hegelstad, Inge Joa, Jan O Johannessen, Johannes Langeveld, Tor K Larsen, Ingrid Melle, Stein Opjordsmoen, Jan I Røssberg, Erik Simonsen, Per Vaglum, Thomas McGlashan, Svein Friis
Affiliations

Ten year neurocognitive trajectories in first-episode psychosis

Helene E Barder et al. Front Hum Neurosci. .

Erratum in

  • Front Hum Neurosci. 2014;8:319

Abstract

Objective: Neurocognitive impairment is commonly reported at onset of psychotic disorders. However, the long-term neurocognitive course remains largely uninvestigated in first episode psychosis (FEP) and the relationship to clinically significant subgroups even more so. We report 10 year longitudinal neurocognitive development in a sample of FEP patients, and explore whether the trajectories of cognitive course are related to presence of relapse to psychosis, especially within the first year, with a focus on the course of verbal memory.

Method: Forty-three FEP subjects (51% male, 28 ± 9 years) were followed-up neurocognitively over five assessments spanning 10 years. The test battery was divided into four neurocognitive indices; Executive Function, Verbal Learning, Motor Speed, and Verbal Fluency. The sample was grouped into those relapsing or not within the first, second and fifth year.

Results: The four neurocognitive indices showed overall stability over the 10 year period. Significant relapse by index interactions were found for all indices except Executive Function. Follow-up analyses identified a larger significant decrease over time for the encoding measure within Verbal Memory for patients with psychotic relapse in the first year [F (4, 38) = 5.8, p = 0.001, η(2) = 0.40].

Conclusions: Main findings are long-term stability in neurocognitive functioning in FEP patients, with the exception of verbal memory in patients with psychotic relapse or non-remission early in the course of illness. We conclude that worsening of specific parts of cognitive function may be expected for patients with on-going psychosis, but that the majority of patients do not show significant change in cognitive performance during the first 10 years after being diagnosed.

Keywords: first-episode psychosis; longitudinal; neurocognition; relapse; verbal memory.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Neurocognitive indices from baseline to 10 year follow-up.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Verbal Learning index from baseline to 10 year follow-up, split by early relapse.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Verbal Fluency index from baseline to 10 year follow-up, split by early relapse.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Motor Speed index from baseline to 10 year follow-up, split by early relapse.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Addington J., Brooks B. L., Addington D. (2003). Cognitive functioning in first episode psychosis: initial presentation. Schizophr. Res. 62, 59–64 10.1016/S0920-9964(02)00340-7 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Aleman A., Hijman R., de Haan E. H., Kahn R. S. (1999). Memory impairment in schizophrenia: a meta-analysis. Am. J. Psychiatry 156, 1358–1366 - PubMed
    1. Barder H. E., Sundet K., Rund B. R., Evensen J., Haahr U., Ten Velden Hegelstad W., et al. (2013). Neurocognitive development in first episode psychosis 5 years follow-up: associations between illness severity and cognitive course. Schizophr. Res. 149, 63–69 10.1016/j.schres.2013.06.016 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Barrett S. L., Mulholland C. C., Cooper S. J., Rushe T. M. (2009). Patterns of neurocognitive impairment in first-episode bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Br. J. Psychiatry 195, 67–72 10.1192/bjp.bp.108.054874 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bilder R. M., Goldman R. S., Robinson D., Reiter G., Bell L., Bates J. A., et al. (2000). Neuropsychology of first-episode schizophrenia: initial characterization and clinical correlates. Am. J. Psychiatry 157, 549–559 10.1176/appi.ajp.157.4.549 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources